Diane Clancy's Art Blog

I am so moved and delighted and excited – as is most of the world!! Electing Obama gives me hope that we can move beyond the kind of politics that has dominated this country.  I am also saddened that gay rights took a real hit in this same election that has so much hope. But I also know that it is just a matter to time … clearly, the tide has turned from, say a decade ago. Many people now understand that gay people are people just like black people are people. It will take a little longer, and a lot of work, to give fulls rights to gay people. But in the meantime, we have Obama and he will lead this country with a new attitude of respect and cooperation.

Animals V, Digital © Diane Clancy

This image is for the Pet Monologues which is the blog which I directed you to showing that incredible video about the lion hugging the woman who rescued him. Also they highlight art, poems and more that showcase animals every week. You can see their blog here. And this is the post for this particular challenge. I hope you enjoy the images there!!Here is that other lion video I told you about the other day. This video is absolutely amazing!! If you loved that lion video I showed you before – and who didn’t? Then you will LOVE LOVE LOVE this video … it is utterly amazing … some of us have cried from the beauty. I know I could put the video here … but it slows things down more – so I wanted to link you to it. It will open in a new window.

They put up a few of the images and then have links to the rest of the sites … perhaps you will feel moved to participate!  Thank you for coming by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Obama, gay rights, Pet Monologues

This Orphan Acts Bill is still alive but not totally passed … so it is important that everyone (all US residents) take a moment’s time and send these letters again to Congress.  I have been getting so much discouraged email from artists who are worried about out work and who can steal it.  Please take the time and send the letters!! Thank you!

Morning Star, Digital © Diane Clancy

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP

Call to Action

Last Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed their Orphan Works Act. 
It is now headed for the full Senate.

If you’ve written before, now’s the time to write again.

Urge your senator to oppose this bill. 

Because it has been negotiated behind closed doors, introduced on short notice and fast-tracked for imminent passage without open hearings, ask that this bill not be passed until it can be exposed to an open, informed and transparent public debate.

We’ve drafted a special letter for this purpose.
You can deep link to it here:

Contact your Senator in opposition to S.2913 NOW

(http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11389061)

The House Judiciary Committee is considering H.R. 5889, the companion bill now. Please write them again:

Contact your Congressman in opposition to H.R. 5889 NOW

(http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11389081)

 
2 minutes is all it takes to write your senator and representatives and fight for your copyrights. Over 68,000 e-mail messages have been sent so far.

Don’t Let Congress Orphan Your Work

Please forward this message to every artist you know.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: ipa@twcny.rr.com 
Place “Add Name” in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area. 

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Bloggers Unite for Human Rights Day, Health Care, Illustration Friday

I am so thrilled that I have been featured on another blog!!! You have heard me speak of Chris O’Byrne who has a blog focused on online art marketing. Chris has decided to feature an artist every Friday on his blog. He decided to start with me!! I hope you will take the time to go over and check out his very interesting blog … thank you again, Chris!! You (my readers) are so so wonderful!!

Lemon Flight, Digital © Diane Clancy

One other thing I want to let you know about today … I have found out about a new resource for bloggers called rrsHugger.com. I think many of you know what rss feeds are … a way to be able to keep up with your favorite blogs by a feed reader instead of having to go visit the site to see if they have posted yet. The rss feed is the mechanism that gives you the info about their blog.

Each blogger chooses a blog name … mine is www.rssHugger.com/dianeclancy.com.  They are providing this service free at the moment if you write a post about them. I am hoping you will go visit it.

This is great for bloggers because there is a lot of exposure. One exciting thing is that they have a random way of showing blogs so that everyone gets a chance to be seen. They also have the top 100 blogs and other ways of finding blogs.

For readers, it is an advantage because you can find lots of new (to you) exciting blogs to be able to read and follow very easily. I think this is a win/win all around!

I just read a very powerful post by Staci Rose on the Holocaust and powerful responses. There is a moving remembrance in London happening … this month. Harry Potter’s glasses are involved. Staci wrote an incredible post about the Holocaust, survivors, and several fantastic resources. I strongly recommend you check out this post!!! Thank you, Staci!

We will get back to marketing .. there are just so many exciting things to write about!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Chris O’Byrne, online art marketing, rss feeds, Staci Rose, Holocaust, rssHuggers.com, OnlineArtsMarketing.com

Happy New Year!! Let’s all have the best year we have ever had! It would be wonderful for each of us to move ahead with our goals, health and relationships and to have peace and justice everywhere on earth. This includes environmental justice – caring for the earth! Sounds good to me!! Marketing is going to wait a few days as I am inspired to write a few other posts first. Lisa Call inspired me to review the year in this post. Today I am going to look at 2007 and see what I have done and tomorrow focus on what I want to accomplish.

Lilac Wonder, Digital © Diane Clancy

Actually I have accomplished quite a bit in 2007 and perhaps it will be useful to document some of it. Some of these were goals and some weren’t.

• Opened my CafePress Shop which allowed people to buy my paintings on mugs, tiles, totes, journals and more. This has been a goal of mine since 1988 (to offer my paintings on merchandise) and CafePress has allowed me to!
• Opened my Etsy Shop where I have been selling reproductions of my artwork from cards to larger matted prints. Opening this shop allowed me to reach more people who wanted to buy my artwork. I have been wanting to market more effectively for a long time.
• Learned about Art Trading Cards (ATC or ACEO) this fall and started offering them for sale. These were my best sellers at Etsy.
• Learned about blogs this spring and have posted a post every day since the end of March on this blog.
• Had several clients for whom I created web sites and blogs. If you go to my site and look under links to clients links, you can see some of them.
• Several clients wanted substantial graphic design work which I was delighted to do!
• I exceeded my financial goals for the year.
• Thanks to one of my readers on this blogs, I am doing better at keeping on top of my financial records … trying for every day to keep the details fresh in my mind as I put them into my databases.
• I have maintained some local card sales.
• Made fantastic connections with online friends!! Thank you!!!
• This fall is when I think I first heard about social networking … I have been very hard at work doing this!! Sometime I will do a post with my connections so you can connect with me in these various ways.
• Found out about and joined WWAO, Worldwide Women Artists Online, a great group of women artists who sell our work online. I have made lots of great connections there.
• On Etsy found out about VAST, Visual Artists Street Team. I was in the group for about a month before I became a moderator … so this is a great opportunity to again connect with other visual artists who sell our artwork.
• Had a very small amount of licensing of my artwork. This was something I wanted to pursue a lot … next year.
• Several clients hired me to put their animal companions into fields of flowers or butterflies. This was a big success.
• I sent out one email newsletter this year – and I didn’t get any “take me offs.” Several people wrote back thanking me for this holiday newsletter.
• Finished “Reflections in Blue IV,” a pastel series I have been working on.
• Been creating digital art like wild, supported greatly by your support and enjoyment of my bubblescapes.
• I have cut a whole pile of blank ATCs that are all ready for me to fill up .. it should be a great way to get back into my traditional painting …. next year.
• Our local Artists of Franklin County became much clearer about our goals, under my leadership. We put on 3 AWE (Artists Window Exhibits) since mid-summer.
• I was invited (and accepted) to be on the Board of Directors of the Create Franklin County, the regional group working to build the Creative Economy.
• I am sure there are more .. but this is exciting to see all the things I have done to move my business ahead as I wanted.

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: goals, peace, justice, earth, Lisa Call, CafePress, ATC, ACEO, Etsy, blogs, clients, web sites, graphic design, financial goals, social networking, WWAO, VAST, licensing, newsletter, digital art, AWE, Creative Economy

Two days ago I mentioned that day was the first day of Kwanzaa, December 26 to January 1, a 7 day celebration started in 1966. Kwanzaa is for the African American and Pan-African community to celebrate their heritage and reinforce positive community and human values: a celebration of family, community and culture. I find it a very moving, welcoming, uplifting observance from the ones I have attended.

Violet Mist, Digital © Diane Clancy

A core part of Kwanzaa is the 7 Principles:

(NGUZO SABA (The Seven Principles) taken from the site of Dr. Maulana Karenga, founder of Kwanzaa, link above)

1. Umoja (Unity): To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
2. Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
3. Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together.
4. Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
5. Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
6. Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
7. Imani (Faith): To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

~ Diane Clancy

p.s. Shall I continue with marketing tomorrow?

Technorati Tags: Kwanzaa, celebration, family, community, culture

I like to enter the 2 Things Challenge each week. This week is Tidy and Ends. It was hard to come up with an idea, but at least the execution was easy for me this week! So thank you! I hope you like my entry.

Tidy Ends, Digital © Diane Clancy

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, a 7 day celebration started in 1966. Kwanzaa is for the African American and Pan-African community to celebrate their heritage and reinforce positive community and human values. The 7 principles are wonderful – perhaps tomorrow I will list them .. I have been very moved when I have gone to Kwanzaa celebrations!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: 2 Things Challenge, Kwanzaa, African American, community, values

Recently, I posted Neda’s Questions and my answers. I am sure you have all been burning with desire to hear which of my last 3 answers was the lie (I was supposed to lie on one). Check out the comments with this post to find the real truth! Thank you, Neda for this fun!

Winter Silence, Digital © Diane Clancy

I wish everyone who celebrates it, a great Thanksgiving. And I wish everyone a very good rest of the week! In the US many people have some time off. I also want to say that Native Americans have gotten a crummy deal from from the US in many was ever since that first Thanksgiving. I am delighted that many people and groups organize and come together to celebrate native culture and to empower Native Americans!

I am delighted to hear how each of you are doing!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Neda, Native Americans